Page 37

“You’re always welcome to look longer,” Orin says quietly, voice too smooth, too certain. “I intend to make sure you do.”

And then I’m stumbling out the door, slamming it shut behind me, heart galloping like a sinner who just caught a glimpse ofthe devil himself. One second, I’m standing there staring at him like a woman who’s forgotten her own name, the next I’m bolting—barefoot, heartbeat trying to punch through my ribs, breath snagging in my throat.

“Abs,” I mutter under my breath, shoving past the half-rotted door and down the uneven front steps. “Abs. One word. That’s what I said. Like a feral little gremlin.”

The early morning air is sharp and cool, the faint scent of damp stone and wood smoke clinging to everything in this gods-forsaken village. I ignore it. I ignore the fact that I’m still half-dressed, that I’ve barely slept, that I can still see Orin’s stupidly sculpted back every time I blink.

My cheeks are on fire. I can’t stop replaying it—how casual he’d been, how he hadn’t even tried to cover himself, like it wasn’t anything at all that I’d walked in on him naked. I curse under my breath and pick up speed, making it halfway down the narrow road before I almost barrel into Silas.

He’s perched on the low wall outside the baker’s, shoving something sticky and sugared into his mouth. His hair’s a mess, green tips catching the weak sunlight, and his grin stretches slow and wolfish when he spots me.

“Hey, gorgeous—why’re you running like your sins are catching up to you?”

I don’t slow down. I dart past him, voice sharp. “Shut up, Silas.”

He hops down from the wall, clearly too intrigued to leave me alone, jogging a few steps to fall in beside me. “What’d you do now?”

I shake my head, cheeks still burning. “Nothing.”

“Uh-huh.” He leans in, voice dropping conspiratorial. “You’re running like you set the house on fire.”

“Worse,” I mutter.

Silas throws his head back, groaning. “Luna, baby, what did you do?”

I grind my teeth, finally slowing at the edge of the square, the chatter of villagers filling the air like a buzz. “I walked in on Orin.”

Silas’s brows lift, mouth curling into something dangerous. “Oh?”

“In the bath.”

His grin splits wide. “Naked Orin? Our quiet, scary scholar?”

I groan, dragging both hands over my face. “I said abs.”

Silas blinks at me. “You said what?”

“One word. I just stood there and—gods—said abs.”

Silas bursts out laughing, loud and unrepentant. A few villagers glance over warily, but he doesn’t care, slinging an arm around my shoulders like this is the funniest thing he’s ever heard.

“You,” he wheezes, “are fucking precious.”

“I’m going to die,” I mumble into my hands.

“You’re gonna die,” Silas agrees, squeezing my shoulder. “But not today. Today you get to live with the knowledge that you ogled Orin naked and couldn’t form a sentence.”

I glare at him, but it’s useless. He’s already plotting.

“You know,” he adds casually, voice dropping low, “he probably liked it.”

That shuts me up, heat crawling down my spine, because that’s the problem.

He did.

I drag both hands down my face like that'll wipe the mortification clean off me. It doesn’t. My skin still feels too hot, too flushed, like I’ve been set on fire from the inside out.

"I looked like an idiot, Silas," I mutter, shooting him a look, even though he’s still grinning at me like I’ve handed him the best entertainment he’s had in months. "I stood there like anabsolute moron while he stood there naked—naked, Silas—and he was all casual about it."